Following Dee Dee’s death, investigators aided by experts determined that Dee Dee suffered from a mental disorder commonly referred to as Munchausen syndrome by proxy. She had systematically abused Gypsy for nearly a quarter century by fabricating multiple chronic illnesses and disabilities and forcing her daughter to take needless medications and undergo numerous unnecessary surgeries.

Gypsies father, Rod, who had separated from Dee Dee before Gypsy was born, says she kept him from his daughter for years.

“They started moving further and further away. The visits became scarcer. I’d call and say, ‘Where’s Gypsy? Let me talk to her.’ She’d say, ‘Well she’s taking a nap, call back in an hour I’ll have her ready for you.’ So I’d call back, and she’d be ready there with all the right answers,” says Rod. “It’s scary to think what she told Gypsy the consequences she’d have if she said anything.”

Gypsy says Dee Dee would tell her awful things about her father. “I was living with my mother, and my father lived in Louisiana and my mother would tell me, ‘He abandoned us, he doesn’t want anything to do with you. He’s happy with his new family now. He doesn’t love you.’ So I thought, why bother going to him when he won’t care?”

Gypsy says she was 19 when she first found evidence that made her question everything her mother had ever told her. When she ran away from home, she claims Dee Dee quickly found her and brought her back, chaining her to the bed for weeks. What other punishment does she say her mother threatened her with?

Tune in Tuesday for part one of a two-part daytime exclusive as Dr. Phil interviews Gypsy from inside prison walls.